Monday, October 28, 2013

We are almost to the end of the Great and Last Letter Fast, which
we now lovingly refer to as the "a-POST-asy." The Van Buskirks are
coming home Wednesday,
just in time for the mail to return on Halloween! (They realized they
took the mail key, so they called USPS and turned off mail services.
That's why I haven't received the package from distribution yet. Mail
should return on Thursday the 31st!) We have to be in by 6 pm
on Halloween, which means we'll have lots of time for letter reading:) I
hope it will be a feast/glorious restoration......that is, if any of
you lovely people have written me.

Speaking of Halloween, happy birthday to my
beautiful sister Darci! And happy birthday to my Mommy, who is still
young and super hip!:)

Keeping track of investigators

Sister Olsen and I have
been meeting with a man named Walter. He's kind of old and aloof...I'm
not sure how much of our conversations he actually understands. But he
accepted and has been reading from the Book of Mormon. We never have set
appointments. We usually show up at around the same time his grandson
gets off of the bus, and we'll find him chilling outside somewhere on a
bench. Last week, when we went to visit with him, his pastor showed up.
Awkward.

Pastors aren't scary. Even though they have their
theological credentials, they don't preach correct doctrine, so it's
easy to "confound the wise." He was interested in our religion and began
a discussion on God and His eternal nature. He described God as a dual
being. Love came first, from God's creation of an extension of himself.
God created a second personality to love perfectly, who is Jesus Christ.
Out of God's love for himself, He created us so that we could love Him
too. The more the Pastor spoke about God, the more he himself was
confused with what he was saying. I asked him what God would look like
when we stood before him on judgment day, and the Pastor kept avoiding
the question. We asked how we should then become like God or follow
Jesus Christ. Are we supposed to have a split personality? Are we
supposed to be self-obsessed? The Pastor seemed flustered and made up an
excuse to leave. (Also Sister Olsen and I were very polite.)

I know that God is our Father in Heaven. He has a
body of of flesh and bones, glorified and perfected. Jesus Christ has a
separate body, also perfect. The Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit.
One day I hope to have a glorified and perfected body, too!:)

Last Monday evening, I extended my first baptismal
invite to Tanya! She works at Amtrak and is the sweetest woman you could
ever meet! She began meeting with the elders in July, but it was
difficult for the elders to set up appointments because they would need a
member and a ride each time. She went about two months without contact,
and now we are meeting with her! She has read the Book of Mormon
through Helaman and she knows that it's the word of God. Tanya is set to
be baptized at the end of November! We have a few Word of Wisdom things
we need to work through, but she has so much faith! She also fed Sister
Olsen and me and she goes on about how she wants to beat up anyone that
hurts us. I love Tanya so much! I never realized I had this kind of
capacity to care about others. It's amazing.

How many days until Christmas?!

On Thursday
I went on exchanges for the first time! I went with Sister George, a
sister training leader, and the trainer of Sister Olsen! We went south
to Fredericksburg and a met with a less active who's attending Mary
Washington University. Beforehand, we did a little bit of training. She
really helped me set goals and then flesh them out. For the past few
weeks, I've been working on developing more charity. My Patriarchal
Blessings says that I have the gift of love. I want to capitalize on
that to be a better missionary. Sister George helped me come up with an
awesome plan!!! I would like to invite you to be involved...

*VISION: (Who or what I see myself becoming in 18 months.) I want to become more like Jesus Christ.
*GOAL: Develop Christlike attributes (Chapter 6 in Preach My Gospel).

*PLAN: Because there are 9 attributes, I can focus on each
attribute for two months of my mission! I don't have my journal and
full calendar here with me, but October was charity and November is
humility. Next week I'll let you know what the rest of the months are. I
would love for my family to be involved in developing Christlike
attributes:) If we all focus on the same attribute each month, then we
can share our experiences and learn from one another! I will spend some
time each month studying the attribute and setting smaller, more
personal goals. True to the Faith, the BD, and PMG are wonderful
resources for learning more about these attributes!

I hope all is happy in Utah, Idaho, and California! I love you all dearly. Please write me! Transfers are on November 20th, so don't send anything after November 15th until you find out whether or not I'm staying in Stafford. (Which I hope I am.)

At the close of this email, I would like to give a
special shout out to my best friend Clarissa Sheney Miller, who is about
to become Sister Miller. She will be entering the Provo MTC on Wednesday
the 30th to prepare for her mission assignment in Charlotte, North
Carolina! I am so grateful for her and the influence she has had on my
family! Especially her love for the temple. Sister Miller LOVES the
temple, and her love has permeated my life. She will be a fantastic
missionary and I couldn't ask for a better best friend. I can't think of
anyone more worthy of this call. How lucky am I to be in the
neighboring state??? Until we meet again, Sister Miller:) I can't wait
to be at your homecoming in 18 months!!

Monday, October 21, 2013

--"We
become more substantive as we serve others--indeed, it is easier to
find ourselves because there is so much more of us to find!" - SWK

Missionary work is all about becoming! Becoming is
conversion. I am becoming something bigger and better--someone more like
Christ. At the same time, I'm helping others do the same! It's the
best. I love being a missionary:)

President Wilson implemented a program a few weeks
before I got here to help us focus on our covenants. He gave each month a
theme:

-Sacrifice September

-Obedience October

-"No No" November (chastity)

-Consecrated Christmas

Missionaries
are endowed before serving to give us extra protection from the
adversary and to help us help others make covenants. But in addition,
serving a mission is one way to learn how to keep your covenants. The
day of my endowment is really sacred to me. And every day is still
sacred because I am learning how to better keep my covenants through
sacrifice, obedience, keeping the law of chastity, and consecrating my
time and talents to the building up of the Kingdom of God!

So the Van Buskirks are AWESOME. It's like living
with grandparents. Sister Olsen and I come home to goodies, candy,
puppies, a loving family, etc. It's the best. Right now they're on
vacation in Utah and we're not sure when they'll be coming home. And
we're about 99% sure they took the mail key with them. We're calling
this period of time "The Great and Last Letter Fast." I received Dad's
conference notes/tweets in the mail (thanks!!! My comp thinks you're a
weirdo;) but I might not get anything for the next week or so. We
believe that this sacrifice of contact with the outside world will bring
great blessings. We're also praying desperately that this famine ends
quickly.

You should all know that missionary work is the most
awkward thing I have ever been a part of in my entire life. We'll be
knocking doors and people will peek at us through the window and then
NOT ANSWER. It's like....WE SAW YOU. And then they still won't answer.
Most people here have screen doors. Sometimes they won't even open those
and they'll just tell us to leave. Once we had an appointment with a
woman named Kimberly. We could hear laughter, etc. from inside. When we
knocked on the door, it went absolutely silent. No one answered. Sooooo
awkward.

Sister Olsen and I have a giant map of the area and
we were examining it on the floor. Penny the dog ran downstairs and
started towards the map. Sister Olsen and I freaked out and started
yelling at the dog and trying to move the map away. (If you missed it, I
sent a letter home about how Penny pees all the time and on anything
and everything.) We then started laughing SO hard. The thought came to
my mind -- I cannot believe I'm 2500 miles away from home, I haven't
seen my family in weeks, I'm here to teach people about Jesus, and this
dog is about to pee on my precious map of a place I hardly know.
Missionary work can be so awkward and so crazy...but I love it more than
anything else I've ever done.

We've had a really successful week here! We started
with absolutely nothing, and now we're up to 13 investigators! Is this
really happening??? That kind of success in this area is unreal. We've
committed 3 of them to baptism. (If they come to know that this is the
true church...which it is. They don't have dates yet.) My favorite is
probably Kayla. She's 18 years old, an only child, and a high school
senior. She knows a little bit about the Bible, but wasn't raised very
religious. (A novelty in the South.) Kayla really wants to find a place
where she belongs. She liked the things that we taught and said that
she's been a lot happier. We have high hopes for her!

Jason is an investigator who came to church with us!
We were actually surprised he showed up. Our only lesson with him was
just bearing our testimonies on his porch. Because we haven't taught any
real lessons yet, I think he was confused. Most churches have paid
clergy, or they pass a money tray around, or they don't invite kids to
sacrament/communion services. He said it's a lot different than other
churches he's attended, and he's not sure if it's the right thing for
him yet. I hope he at least lets us teach a lesson or two! Jason stayed
for the first two hours, which was pretty good.

Darci asked about the weather. It's been very warm
so far. It rained the first four or five days, but has been sunny since.
When I was in the MTC, it was getting into the 40's and 50's in Utah.
In Virginia, we've been as high as 75, but it's usually closer to 65.
The cold here is very different. It just sticks to me. If I have
something covering me, I'll be just fine. For example, the basement can
be cold in the morning during personal/companion study. As long as I
wear a jacket and have a blanket on my legs, I'll be warm! Sister Olsen
and I are going to Target/Ross today to try and find sock/cable knit
tights to keep our legs warm when it's starts to get colder.

Clarissa asked about my hair. I wrote about it a bit
(a lot) in the letter I sent home. Mommy, if there's something
important/interesting in a written letter, will you please add it to my
blog? Thank you! To answer the question, my hair looks like Hermione's
did in the first few Harry Potter movies. It is BIG. Like, REALLY BIG.
So much frizz. Sister Olsen loves it. (She has straight hair...so she
has no idea.) It's big, but not unmanageable. I think I'll like it more
when it gets a couple inches longer. (10 inches longer.)

Anyway...Many of you well know that my major at BYU
is business strategy. My interests and skills in organizational behavior
have been super helpful! I said that we have a giant map of the
area...well we've broken the Accokeek Ward down into 9 smaller areas. On
our ward list, we have each family separated into the 9 areas. We color
coded the list for active/less-active/converts/part-member, etc.
We save on miles because we decide an area or two to spend our day. It's
awesome! I love love love everything I'm learning about how to organize
and plan effectively so that more work can be done.

Also, because I love business, here are two cool
thoughts. The first is to have a daily "accounting" session with God.
Every night, spend 15 minutes thinking about your day and considering
how you can improve. Use that time to write in your journal and set
goals for the next day. When we report our improvement to God, our
improvement accelerates! Use this time to set everything in your life in
order with God.

The second is "earnest." I'd explain it to you, but
the Bible Dictionary does a much better job. So your assignment for
today is to look up "EARNEST" in the BD!

No pictures this week. I know, I'm failing;) I just don't take my
camera with me every day. Maybe during my free time this afternoon
Sister Olsen and I will go on a walk. I have no words for how beautiful
it is here.

I love you all so so so much. I love you more than I did a month ago when I entered the MTC.

*PS- I am SO HAPPY. Happier than I've ever been before:) Thank you for
your love and prayers and letters and emails and support!!!!!!!!
Choosing to serve a mission is the only hard decision I've ever had to
make in my life. Choosing to go to BYU was easy. Choosing my major was
easy. Choosing to be a member of this church was easy. BUT, choosing to
go on a mission was not an easy decision for me. (Nor was it an easy
process.) However, I've never been more sure about a decision. I am
supposed to be here. I know it! I'm so grateful and happy and blessed:)
and I love my Mom so much!

Monday, October 14, 2013

"God loves all of His children equally! But He loves His missionaries a little more equally."

-Sister Nally, wife of the MTC President :)

First
of all, General Conference was AMAZING. I especially loved Elder
Holland's talk on dealing with depression and Elder Christofferson's
talk about the moral influence of women! Being in the MTC one year after
the age-change announcement was amazing!

On Wednesday
I flew to Virginia with about 30 other missionaries. Yes, I did place a
Book of Mormon to the man I sat next too! His name was Gary and he's
Lutheran. We talked about our beliefs, and I found that he had a hard
time explaining his acceptance of the Nicean Creed (sp?). A lot of what
he said contradicted itself. Gary seemed pretty interested in Mormon
Doctrine and accepted to read parts of the Book of Mormon. (I had marked
up certain chapters like 2 Nephi 2&31, 3 Nephi 11&17, and Alma
32.)

I met President and Sister Wilson at the airport. I
wish I could think of someone to compare them too. They are incomparably
amazing people. In fact, I'm surprised they haven't been translated yet.
God must need them here for some reason:)

The group was taken to a church for a dinner.
It felt so nice to be served a meal after a long day of travel. Then we
had interviews, took pictures, and wrote letters home. Pres. Wilson even
gave me a hug!!!!!!:) He said something in my interview that really
struck me. He said, "If there's any experience you want on your mission
that you're not having, then let me know and I'll make it happen." I
thought of two things: my desire to train, and my desire to speak
Spanish.

The sisters spent the night at the mission home in
Richmond. It was on about 4 acres of land and was designed like a large,
old southern home. When I stepped inside, I felt like I had entered a
temple. That was probably the most restful night I've had my entire
life. The following morning, we had a transfers meeting and were
assigned our areas and companions.

I have been assigned to serve in the Accokeek
Ward in Stafford, VA. (Accokeek sounds kind of like echo creek without
the r.) I'm living in the basement of the Van Buskirk's home! They are
an amazing couple! Sister Van Buskirk never had kids of her own, because
Brother Van Buskirk had kids from a previous marriage. She treats us
like we're her daughters:) Sister Van Buskirk is always making us
desserts and food. The decorations remind me a lot of home! I love it!
They also have three little dogs that are crazy. Here's my address for
at least until mid November:

Sister Crandall

110 Galway Ln

Stafford VA 22554

I'd
compare the area density to Provo and Lehi combined. Some places are
very densely populated, with town homes and apartments. Other parts are a
little more country-like. Lots of trees. Beautiful, amazing trees. Some
urban shopping areas. Stafford is perfect. I love it here! And we're
about 30 or so minutes south of DC. Apparently the government shut down?
Does anyone want to fill me in? About 1/3rd or more of the men in the
ward are out of work. The Bishop was teasing about himself being
"non-essential."

My companion is Sister Olsen from Oregon. She's also
a BYU student! This is her third transfer. She is amazing! And really
patient and kind. She's confident speaking and teaching, but said that
she prefers that I speak more so that I can be taught by experience.
It's great for me because I love talking!!:) She's actually a visa
waiter, and could leave for Brazil at any moment. Well, with two weeks'
notice. Sister Olsen wears an English badge and dislikes telling people
that she's a visa waiter because she wants to be taken more seriously.
She doesn't want the ward to view her as temporary.

Because of that, Sister Olsen has to study
Portuguese every morning for an hour. I use that time to study Spanish! I
knew I brought mi Libro de Mormon for a reason! Mommy will you please
send me more Spanish things? I should have a binder somewhere with my
105/106 materials. If not, there's a dictionary in my room. And I'd love
to have a Spanish PMG and Spanish copy of D&C 4, Joseph Smith's
first vision, Proclamation on the Family, etc. I've thought a lot about
what President Olsen said about requesting the experiences that I want. I
would love to spend a transfer or two speaking Spanish! I'd really need
to prepare:)

Here's one run-in I've had with Spanish: Sister
Olsen and I went to visit a less-active woman yesterday. She's out of
town, but her mom was home. Her mom, Esperanza, is an Aquino from Lima!
She knows Alonso's family! (Alonso's mom is an Aquino.) She didn't speak
any English, so I was able to communicate with her in Spanish. We went
inside, talked, prayed, and she fed us. Sister Olsen was able to
understand a little bit because of her Portuguese. Esperanza said she
was feeling very lonely until we came! We're going to go back in a week
when her daughter is home.

The field is white in Stafford. Sister Olsen and I
aren't white-washing, because Elders white-washed last transfer, but we
are pink-washing! The Elders are still here, so we started with nothing.
No one. No appointments. We've done a TON of tracting. And...I'm
pleased to announce...that...I LOVE TRACTING. I love it. Just like Mom
said, you never know what you'll find behind each door! Also, we find
someone who's interested almost every 5 doors! I think I've experienced
only one or two door slams. Most of the people are really kind and
respect what we're doing. We've received plenty of "glory hallelujahs"
and "yes Lords!" And lots of people want us to come back. Sister Olsen
said she's never seen success in tracting like this before.

The Elders also gave us a stack of former
investigators to go through. We go to their homes and pretend like we're
tracting...as if we don't know that they're former investigators;) We
can tell that they recognize us as missionaries, but they pretend like
they don't know that much about the church. So far, visiting former
investigators has been our most successful tool for finding! Yesterday
we got two new investigators this way!! (To be a new investigator means
we've already taught them a lesson.)

Last night we taught a man named Dean (yay!) about
the authority of Jesus Christ that was lost during the apostasy. We
testified that the authority has been restored to the earth and that his
life can be blessed by it. He seemed verrrry interested. We're going
back next week!

We also tracted into a woman named Nicole. She had
Mormon friends in high school and has even visited them in Utah a few
times. She was so excited that we found her! Nicole is recently divorced
and seems very prepared to accept the Gospel. I'm super excited to
begin teaching her!

I had my first ever Bible bash the other day!!!
YAYYY! It was really fun:) Don't worry, I kept my cool. And my companion
said I did a great job of answering the man's questions and using Bible
scriptures to back up our doctrine. It wasn't really a Bible bash, but
more of a discussion of doctrine with a Christian well-educated in Bible
verse. His name was Isaac. He very discreetly hinted that Mormons are
going to hell. We asked him about his beliefs on Heaven and Hell, and he
said that he believed that all those who accepted Jesus Christ as the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Trinity) would go to Heaven. Anyone who
has a differing view of Jesus Christ is accepting a false god. He also
rejected the idea that missionary work would exist after death and
before judgment. 1st Peter 4, anyone??? It was a cool experience to
recognize the Bible knowledge I do have, and to be able to keep the
Spirit throughout the discussion. I wish his heart would have been
softer, but "they who reject this glad message shall never such
happiness know."

I'm so grateful that I know who God is. I worship a
God who has a glorified, perfected body of flesh and bones. Jesus Christ
is His son. The Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit.

I love my family so dearly.

Love, Sister Crandall

*Also: Sister Olsen and I got a brand new car! A Toyota Corrolla!
Seriously when we started driving it, it had less than 50 MILES!!!!
AHHHH! She's the designated driver, which means I get to awkwardly stand
behind and help her back up ;)

Friday, October 4, 2013

I know you all want to know what I'm struggling with. To be completely
honest, I almost feel guilty that I haven't had any emotional issues
while here! A lot of girls cry, and even the girls in my district have
been overwhelmed. The MTC is much easier than I thought it would be. I
love school, and I love the Gospel. The three hour classes go by
quickly. I do a great job of staying on task during personal study. I
love love love teaching. I have enough energy to make it through the day
and I rarely feel homesick. My love for my family has more than
doubled, but I know that I'm here for a reason. Hearing from them once or
twice a week is enough to keep me going.

Sister Moore & Sister Crandall

So here's what has been hard: my companion. Sister
Moore and I get along really well, and we have great communication.
However, we tend to be late to almost everything. I think a part of obedience is being on
time to class. We always walk in after the teacher closes the door or
when opening exercises have begun. It's been hard on me. I remind her
often that I want to be on time, but nothing changes. We're late to
meals, classes, zone teaching, devotionals, etc. She and another set of
sisters in my district/dorm stay up late giggling and chatting after the
lights are out. Between 10:15 and 10:30 is our "quiet time," which is supposed to mellow us out before bed, but it doesn't work. That's where I've been struggling.

I'm so ready to be mature and grown up and quiet and
dignified, but a lot of the girls here see this as a big slumber party.
I love Sister Moore so so much, but I wish we were more obedient as a
companionship. I think that would improve our learning greatly. At the
end of the day, that's the only thing I regret.

ANYWAY, teachers here are really good at role
playing. They will pretend to be an investigator and we teach them as
often as we'd like. Brother Mitsvotai plays Lee, and they are completely
different people! Sister Moore and I are teaching Lee. He's a doctor
who was recently divorced and is now dating a Mormon woman. He's been
baptized into a few churches and really wants to know what makes our
church different. He's very receptive to our message and often takes
notes. He said he'll be baptized if he comes to know that our church is
the true church. Lee is our main investigator. We also teach Carmelo and
Ivelisse. With Ivelisse, I was able to bear my testimony in Spanish to
her (she's from Venezuela). I could tell that it was really meaningful
to her. I LOVE THAT. I know that I will have opportunities to use my
Spanish language skills when I enter the field.

Brother Mitsvotai is our afternoon teacher, and
Brother Heath teaches in the morning. (We have two three-hour classes
every day.) Brother Heath taught the most amazing lesson! We don't just
want investigators to know the Book of Mormon is true. Lots of people
who are not members of our church know that the Book of Mormon is true.
Even the devil knows that the Book of Mormon is true! Having a testimony
of the Book of Mormon is true is not enough. We need to know how to USE
the Book of Mormon. That is real conversion. In other words, we need to
know how to apply its teachings and how to receive personal revelation
from it.

The BEST District!

My scriptures are away in my classroom, but there's
one in Moses 3 (or maybe 5) that talks about how God created all things
spiritually before they were created here on the earth naturally. A
sister from my district had a really neat insight. My investigators were
someone spiritually, and now they are here naturally. They have become
who they were supposed to become. Am I fulfilling the measure of my
creation? Have I become who I need to become in order to bring them back
to the Kingdom? So cool.

Yesterday (Thursday)
was in-field orientation. Instead of having regular classes, we had a
big combined devotional/breakout sessions with all of the missionaries
entering the field next week. There were over 450 of us! We learned
about how to use our planner, area book, and how to work with members.
The brother in charge shared a story about how--when he was 5--he was
trying to impress the missionaries when they came over for dinner. It
reminded me of a story of my own!

When we lived in Aliso Viejo, I remember elders
coming to visit Mom. They were downstairs in the front room. I went onto
the loft/bridge that overlooked the front room. I pulled out all of my
coolest toys and put them on display, hoping to impress the
missionaries. It's interesting now to be on the other side--to be the
missionary! I never want to let down the children who look up to me. I
never want to disgrace the honor of being a representative of Jesus
Christ. I am so grateful to be a missionary at this time when the Lord
is hastening His work. We are living Jacob 5!!! I have never been
happier before in my entire life! Missionary work is urgent, important,
and TRUE.

I testify that "the field is white, already to
harvest." This applies to all missions, everywhere. Even for the people
who serve in Scotland or South Dakota or Japan, the field is white. The
scriptures say that phrase 52 times! God really means it. I'm so
grateful that my field is in the beautiful state of Virginia. I will be
flying out Wednesday morning with about 25 other missionaries to Richmond.

Thank you so much, my dearest family and friends,
for your love and support while I've been here in the MTC. I appreciate
all of the prayers. I have truly felt lifted. Because I'll be leaving
soon, please don't send any letters because they probably won't make it
in time. My next P-day will likely be Monday October 14th while in the field! However, my Mission President (Wilson) will probably send a notice that I've arrived safely.

I'm a Mormon!

2 Nephi 31:20

Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.